Charlie Beckett, right, in RAF despatch rider uniform.
Here he is (top row third from right) with colleagues in their passing out photo taken at RAF Uxbridge in 1937.
From 18 March 1938 - 1 August 1939 he was based at RAF Cottesmore for training.
From September 1939 - March 1941, he was driver to Air Chief Marshal Sir Sholto Douglas.
From April 1941 - 1942, he drove Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur 'Bomber' Harris.
From June 1942 - April 1943 he was N.C.O. in charge of Drivers at M.A.P.
In April 1943 he became driver to Air Marshal Sir Douglas Evill.
Above is his RAF Form 557 Permanent Pass, driver for Chief of Air Staff Dept.
Above is a rare photograph, taken during the Blitz by Charlie Beckett, of a London doorman holding a large chunk of roofing lead that was blown into the street by an exploding shell and which landed on the roof of his RAF Staff Car (a Vauxhall GL-Type 25 hp Limousine).
Driving around the streets of London during the Blitz was rather hazardous. On 14th October 1940, he wrote in his diary "Bomb dropped 3 to 4 yards away from car. Well bashed."
He recounted another time when a shell landed close by while driving Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur 'Bomber' Harris. He took instinctive evasive action as the shell exploded, avoiding large chunks of falling masonry. Bomber Harris later thanked him, saying that he almost certainly saved his life.
Driving around the streets of London during the Blitz was rather hazardous. On 14th October 1940, he wrote in his diary "Bomb dropped 3 to 4 yards away from car. Well bashed."
He recounted another time when a shell landed close by while driving Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur 'Bomber' Harris. He took instinctive evasive action as the shell exploded, avoiding large chunks of falling masonry. Bomber Harris later thanked him, saying that he almost certainly saved his life.
In the back of his war diary for 1940, he kept a record of some of the dignitaries he drove in his RAF staff car, as follows:
Notabilities
Sir Dudley Pound Admiral of the Fleet
Sir Winston Churchill
Capt. Balfour, Secretary of State for Air
Sir C. Newall Chief of the Air Staff
Sir Edward Leonard Ellington Marshal of the Royal Air Force
Mr W Elliot Minister of Agriculture
Lady Millbank
Lady Maureen Stanley (Socialite; wife of Oliver Frederick George Stanley; daughter of 7th Marquess of Londonderry)
General Ironside
Sir Kingsley Wood (Conservative politician and Chancellor of the Exchequer)
Mr Short (of Short Bros) (Oswald Short)
Sir S. Hoare (Former Home Secretary)
Mr Stanley War Minister (Oliver Stanley, Secretary of State for War)
Sir A. Sinclair (Sir Archibald Sinclair, Secretary of State for Air, Leader of the Liberal Party)
Major General Ismay (chief staff officer to Churchill)
Dutch Foreign Minister (possibly Eelco van Kleffens)
Sir John Reith (Minister for Information, later first Director General of the BBC)
Duchess of Westminster
Jack Doyle & wife
Sir A Street
Sir H Tizzard
Mr Malcolm MacDonald
Mr Duff Cooper
Lord Gort (John Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort)
General Silol ? O i/c F.M.
Her Majesty The Queen (27/6/40)
HRH The Duchess of Kent (27/6/40)
Mr Malcolm MacDonald (27/6/40)
Lord Trenchard 'Father of the Royal Air Force'
Belgian Ambassador
HM The King (George VI)
Lord Riversdale
Mr N. Chamberlain
HRH The Duke of Kent
Prince Bernhard
Tommy Farr (boxer)
He also drove General Dwight D. Eisenhower during his trip to England in June 1942. He was asked to step in at short notice as his driver because Eisenhower's usual female chauffeur was taken ill.
